The Muhlenberg mens lacrosse team begins its first varsity season
since 1980 when it hosts Centenary tomorrow.

Mens lacrosse was a varsity sport at Muhlenberg from 1965 to 1980 and
existed as a popular club sport after it was discontinued. Mens
lacrosse was formally reinstated as a varsity sport in January 2001.

Head Coach Dave Cornell, an assistant with national runner-up Gettysburg
in 2001, has goals both modest and lofty for the team. I want our
guys to get better every day, and understand the game a lot better,
he said. Our goal is to be competitive in the Centennial Conference
and be playing for something come mid-April. If we can pull off an upset
here or there, maybe we can sneak into the [CC] Tournament.

The CC is one of the strongest Division III conferences, with Gettysburg,
Washington and McDaniel all ranked in the preseason top 11. Thats
just fine with Cornell, who has set a long-term goal of being a top-15
team within three years. This schedule is going to let our kids know
where they stand. By playing Gettysburg, by playing Washington,
theyre going to see the level they need to be at for us to achieve
our goals.

The Mules have a 19-member squad that consists of four sophomores and 15
freshmen. Sophomore goalie Mark Whitlock and freshman midfielders Mike
Tentindo and John Westendorf have been selected as captains. The team
played competitive scrimmages in the fall against Widener and Cabrini, a
pair of 2002 NCAA Tournament teams, and defeated Scranton and Drew in
preseason spring scrimmages.

We dont have a lot of depth, said Cornell, But if our
kids do what theyre supposed to do well be all right.

Women Look to Turn Close Losses into Wins

The Muhlenberg womens lacrosse team went 4-11 in 2002, but three of
the losses were by a single goal. A different bounce here or there, and
the Mules could have been close to a .500 season.

They will try to turn around some of those results in 2003, beginning
tomorrow with a home game against Moravian, a first-year varsity team.

Weve been practicing very hard, said Head Coach Kristen
Stuckel.

Bowman is the Mules all-time leader in draw
controls and needs four caused turnovers to take over first place in that
category.

Our team is very excited for competition, to see where they are and
to see how the new players will fit in.

Muhlenberg returns 10 starters from last year but also has a good group of
freshmen who figure to see considerable playing time. Our main focus
has been to try to incorporate the new players and continue our growth as
a team, noted Stuckel. We have a lot of potential, but we have a
lot of work to do.

The teams top returning scorer is senior Sarah Bowman, who notched 41
points on 33 goals and eight assists last season. She also led the team in
ground balls (26), draw controls (44) and caused turnovers (22). The other
senior on the team, Lynsey Caldwell, is Muhlenbergs all-time leader
with 49 career assists. She had a school-record 19 assists in 2002 and
ranks fifth in team history with 120 career points.

The Mules also received a record-breaking performance last season from
sophomore goalie Diana Bleakley, who set the mark for saves in a season
(252) and tied the record for saves in a game (28) en route to earning
All-Centennial Conference second-team honors.